Chemical mechanical polishing process

Abstract

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process at least includes a polishing step and an ex-situ conditioning step, and the ex-situ conditioning step must be immediately performed after the polishing step. Therefore, it can save the process time. Furthermore, when applying to a CMP apparatus with several polishing regions, it can integrate these polishing regions having different polishing time in order to shorten total manufacturing time, thereby improving throughput.

1 . A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process comprising:
 providing a CMP apparatus having a plurality of polishing pads and a mechanical arm;   pressing a first wafer and a second wafer onto a first pad and a second pad respectively to perform a first polishing process of the first wafer and a second polishing process of the second wafer without pad conditioning;   finishing the second polishing process of the second wafer while the first polishing process of the first wafer still under performing;   moving up the second wafer away from the second pad, then performing a conditioning process to the second pad;   finishing the first polishing process of the first wafer and moving up the first wafer away from the first pad while the second pad still under the pad conditioning process; and   simultaneously rotating the mechanical arm to remove away the first wafer and the second wafer while the second pad still under the pad conditioning process.   
     
     
         2 . (canceled) 
     
     
         3 . (canceled) 
     
     
         4 . A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, comprising:
 providing a CMP apparatus having a plurality of polishing pads and a mechanical arm;   pressing a first wafer and a second wafer onto a first pad and a second pad respectively to perform a first polishing process of the first wafer and a second polishing process of the second wafer without pad conditioning;   finishing the first polishing process of the first wafer and the second polishing process of the second wafer simultaneously;   moving up the first wafer and the second wafer away from the first pad and the second pad respectively, then performing a conditioning process to the first pad and the second pad; and   simultaneously rotating the mechanical arm to remove away the first wafer and the second wafer while the first and the second pad still under the pad conditioning process.   
     
     
         5 . (canceled) 
     
     
         6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . The CMP process of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 performing the conditioning process to the first pad after moving up the first wafer away from the first pad.   
     
     
         8 . The CMP process of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 performing the conditioning process to the first pad when simultaneously rotating the first wake and the second wafer.